Escuadras fascistas contra la inseguridad en Valencia
By Klaus Berger ·
The notion that "insecurity" can be cured by uniformed, politically motivated street patrols is a dangerous piece of magical thinking that betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the rulebook.
The Illusion of Order in Valencia’s Marítimo District
The notion that "insecurity" can be cured by uniformed, politically motivated street patrols is a dangerous piece of magical thinking that betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the rulebook. What unfolded in Valencia—a spectacle detailed by El País and corroborated by reports on meneame.net—is not an organic response to crime; it is the calculated deployment of political muscle under the guise of civic duty. At the heart of this operation stands España 2000, a party fascist group that has draped itself in the mantle of charity through the NGO Hogar Social Patriota María Luisa Navarro. This structure allows them to mobilize "escuadras" trained in martial arts, led by figures like José Luis Roberto Navarro—a man whose office displays busts of Franco and photos of compromised military figures.
When Private Interests Replace State Competence
The facts are stark: these patrols are not spontaneous; they are meticulously organized units composed primarily of España 2000 militants. Their stated purpose, as articulated by Roberto, is to "colaborar con la policía en los sitios calientes." Yet the true target remains clear, focusing on “las zonas con más inmigrantes,” specifically naming Moroccan and Algerian people. Furthermore, their historical record—from distributing food only to Spaniards fourteen years ago, to promoting neonazi marches in 2021—is a textbook illustration of how political extremism utilizes institutional pretexts. The sheer volume of lucrative private contracts these figures hold, such as those with the Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, speaks not to competence but to an alarming structural capture by vested interests that prioritize ideological enforcement over stable governance.
The Recurring Mechanism of Manufactured Conflict
This spectacle is merely a modern iteration of a far deeper historical pattern: the use of ostensibly benign social or civic structures to mobilize and legitimize political violence. We must draw the parallel with the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). In both instances, groups—the Nationalists then, and these fascistic militias now—have utilized the language of order, stability, and defense against an imagined internal enemy to justify armed action outside established legal channels. The mechanism is identical: when state institutions falter or are perceived as insufficient by a determined fringe, private power structures step in, not to restore law, but to enforce a narrow ideological vision of who belongs and who must be controlled.
The stability of any advanced economy requires the absolute supremacy of transparent, enforceable rules—the ordoliberal ideal. When political violence is allowed to operate through quasi-private security firms and charity facades, it does more than merely disrupt; it systematically erodes trust in the competence of the state itself. The only true defense against this kind of organized ideological hazard is not more patrolling, but a rigorous, uncompromising reaffirmation that public order belongs exclusively to democratic institutions, accountable to law, and funded by fiscal word.